I just lost some irreplacable files
Ron Knights
Posts: 2,137
I usually preach how necessary it is to have backups of your original content and your installed content as well. I've done a pretty good job over the years. But this time I screwed up royally. I got rid of all the Poser & DAZ content I had on DVDs. I thought all the content had been copied over to a hard drive. It wasn't.
I'm not entirely sure of the exact losses. It appears I lost all my stuff from subscription services that went out of business. (Poser Style) is one. I had some pretty good Western Outfits from them. Most of my losses might be Michael 2 stuff.
I also lost my older Poser/DAZ Studio installations. Most of the older characters I created might be lost. When I discovered the problem, I moved the surviving files over to a 3TB hard drive, and re-purposes a 3TB Western Digital Passport drive as a backup. I'm backing up the surviving files now.
This is a good excuse to abandon older stuff!
I'm also reinstalling all my stuff manually. I'm breaking things down according to the various generations of characters, etc. That's how I discovered the loss of old stuff!
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Comments
Oh dang, that's harsh :(
I'm sorry for your loss
Ugh, I have like 15 toss away emails I used just so I could sign up for a bunch of mega accounts, 50GB of free storage space each. A poor man's online backup, until I start making some frikken money and buy a proper online storage space, if that ever happens again lol. I used to do the DVD thing, but then when came time to use them, not a single one worked for some reason...... I tested them all right after burning too!
There's a small chance this stuff might be on a 1TB hard drive that I used for awhile. I decided to upgrade to a 2TB hard drive for my "Runtimes." I have two 1TB hard drives, but don't have a case for them. I have two hard drive docks around here somewhere. I just decided not to worry about that issue till the weekend. I need to go grocery shopping on Friday. That will be the first time I go outside since the heatwave started here in Minnesota.
I keep meaning to get an online backup service, but always end up cancelling. I do have a large plan with Dropbox. I can store all my originals there. Unfortunately I went through that collection one day, in an effort to re-organize things. I deleted the "lost files" from there too.
I have my Runtimes on a 2TB hard drive, and use another 2TB hard drive to make a clone backup. The original files are now on a 3TB hard drive, and I'm using another 3TB hard drive to make a clone copy. But that 3TB hard drive backup only started today when I realized I'd lost a bunch of stuff!
Oh man, good luck, hopefully you hit paydirt on the old one!
Thanks. In the meantime, my Mac Mini might be dying. The screen goes black for awhile, then comes back to life. I still have the new 27" iMac, and the old iMac from 2007. (The old 24" iMac hasn't been used for almost a year.)
This is why some wedding photographers are going back to film. Too many customers coming back after a few years for duplicate DVDs of their weddings, only to find that the master DVDs have become corrupted is enough to spoil the appeal of digital for some.
How long had it been since you used the stuff that you lost?
I have a rough rule of thumb, if I haven't used in 2 or 3 years I probably don't need it. That actually usually goes for IRL stuff that I own (I like a minimal life), but also translates well to my digital life as well. The only acception to the rule is family photos and heirlooms.
A business (or anyone for that matter) should never rely on data on optical media only. It's horryfying how ignorant or careless business owners (or even social and governmental organisations) can be about IT. Multiple HDD backups on at least two locations, plus online backup, and you usually won't have any problems. For a normal business such expenses are peanuts, compared to the value of their data.
HDD is not a reliable backup either. Archival drives have a nasty habit of "stiction" after use and then sitting for extended periods. Online backup may not be an option if the data contain any type of "restricted access information."
As their prices drop, SSD is looking to be a decent mid-term archival medium, but there have been reports of data storage degradation within Flash Media that causes the cells to degrade and revert back to their default state over time.
Kendall
In the past, I've made hundreds of DVD copies of my data. All of the DVDs lasted just fine. I usually ended up re-arranging stuff onto new DVDs and tossed the old ones. I just got tired of having so many 100 DVD wallets sitting on a shelf.
Over recent years I have focused more on the Genesis generations of characters, rather than the older ones. But I had created a cast of characters for various projects that I had hoped to finally bring to life. Their loss was a major blow. At the same time, I have created Genesis versions of a few characters.
I need to take care of some financial matters over coming months. Hopefully I'll be able to subscribe to an online backup service by winter.